This morning we travelled to Tarbet (a few miles north of Scourie) and took the ferry to Handa Island. Many years ago James and I and the children went on a great boat trip around Handa, but we have never landed on the island before. It is extremely popular with keen bird watchers and I was impressed with Alison and Hugh's knowledge of all the different types of birds. Special mention must be made of Hugh's good-natured bravery in undertaking the ten minute ferry ride to the island; he doesn't like boat trips at all but did it anyway. He did say that he enjoyed the island once he felt better! We saw Arctic Skuas, guillemots, fulmars, eider ducks, oystercatchers, and wheatears. The ranger told me that these birds used to be called "white arses" but the Victorians changed the name to "wheatears" because it sounded more polite! He said that the Scottish name is "clacharan" which sounds much nicer.
There was a big sea stack to the north of the island, high and low cliffs and sandy beaches. Yet again we were pretty lucky with the weather; it was dry almost our whole way round and only rained for the last twenty minutes or so. We stopped in at the Kylesku Hotel on our way back to the cottage, but were rather disappointed that there was no food available mid-afternoon apart from crisps, not even a sandwich or bowl of soup. The place just seems less friendly than it used to be. Never mind, we had some snacks back at the cottage.
Also on the way back, the road ahead of us was temporarily blocked by a mountain rescue vehicle. This was because someone had been injured on the hill and a rescue helicopter was attempting to land in the lay by. However it had difficulty, perhaps because of wind, and took off again to circle round. I hope that the injured person was rescued successfully.
For our last night dinner we went to Peet's, round at the harbour. It was busy and the food was very good; I am always surprised at how popular are the several restaurants in Lochinver, because the population of the village must be small. It must depend very much on its tourism, and over the last week we have come across people of various nationalities, including a number of Belgian people.
There was a big sea stack to the north of the island, high and low cliffs and sandy beaches. Yet again we were pretty lucky with the weather; it was dry almost our whole way round and only rained for the last twenty minutes or so. We stopped in at the Kylesku Hotel on our way back to the cottage, but were rather disappointed that there was no food available mid-afternoon apart from crisps, not even a sandwich or bowl of soup. The place just seems less friendly than it used to be. Never mind, we had some snacks back at the cottage.
Also on the way back, the road ahead of us was temporarily blocked by a mountain rescue vehicle. This was because someone had been injured on the hill and a rescue helicopter was attempting to land in the lay by. However it had difficulty, perhaps because of wind, and took off again to circle round. I hope that the injured person was rescued successfully.
For our last night dinner we went to Peet's, round at the harbour. It was busy and the food was very good; I am always surprised at how popular are the several restaurants in Lochinver, because the population of the village must be small. It must depend very much on its tourism, and over the last week we have come across people of various nationalities, including a number of Belgian people.
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